Tennessee Basketball: Vols will meet Kansas again in 2019 to add on to everything else

The SEC-Big 12 matchups have been announced, and the Vols will be heading to Lawrence, Kansas, to take on the Jayhawks.

Tennessee will face Kansas in this year’s SEC-Big 12 Challenge, and after finishing at the top of the conference, Rick Barnes has drawn a game against a top-seeded Big 12 team.

This could be a problem for the Vols when that game comes around. Tennessee isn’t the team they were last year, and Kansas continuously brings in top recruits every year so Tennessee might be in trouble.

Barnes doesn’t have much when it comes to guaranteed production on the court. Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner are really the only two that have shown they can put up shots consistently, at least when they get going.

When they’re off, they’re off and colder than the bleachers at Neyland Stadium after losing to Vanderbilt. If those two can be more consistent this year, I think we will be ok, but if they continue to bring their inconsistencies, then we could be in trouble in more than the Kansas game.

This could be a long season for Barnes’ Vols as they will look to start the rebuild process. It’s pretty unclear what the Vols have to offer on the court in 2019, so we might be hoping for a chance to play in March Madness come Spring.

Last season, Tennessee took on West Virginia in Knoxville, but they got the shorter end of the stick this time around with Kansas. The Jayhawks are a preseason top-five team and a lethal choice for the Vols.

The Vols fell to Kansas last season so I can only expect it to happen again this year with a worse team which could be a bad look for Barnes and Tennessee on national television.

After this offseason, a lot of people are on the edge or even out on Barnes, so he’s going to have to win over a lot of people all over again.

It’s a steep hill to climb for Barnes in 2019 and 2020 and Kansas isn’t going to make that any easier. On the other hand, if he does beat Kansas, that will be a massive step in the right direction.

I want to say this will be a fun season and if Tennessee wasn’t so good last year and had super high expectations it probably would be. But after failing to win anything last year, it’s hard to say this year will be any more fun.

This season will be interesting though to see how some of the newer guys mix with the guys who have been at Tennessee for three or four years. It will also be interesting to see how Barnes does after last season and this past offseason.

I’m not out on Barnes yet, but if he flops this year, it will be hard not to be out on him. He has a chance to win over some fans this season, but it’s not going to be easy.